Facebook Shows Off Redesigned News Feed

Facebook unveils a radically new design for News Feed, which includes new streams for photos, news, music and more.

Facebook today announced a new version of News Feed that is "designed to reduce clutter and focus more on stories from people you care about," the social networking company says. Among its new features is a left-side navigation; new feeds for photos, news and music; and a streamlined interface between desktop and mobile versions.

Facebook is slowly rolling out the new design. To get on the waiting list, visit facebook.com/newsfeed. Here's a look at all the new features.

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Facebook Vice President of Product Chris Cox says that the updated News Feed look is a "mobile-inspired Web design." You will have a similar experience across devices, whether you're accessing Facebook from your cell phone, tablet or desktop, he says.

You can switch between feeds by clicking on your sub-feeds. These include feeds of your friends' photos, your friends' most recent posts, music they're listening to, games their playing and more. Another big change: Stories will be listed chronologically—instead of by "Most Popular"—so you don't miss anything.

Your "All Friends" feed will contain all posts from friends in one place.

The Music feed has been revamped to display posts from musicians you've liked, information on albums they've released and any information about upcoming concerts. You can also see the most popular songs your friends are listening to and other suggestions for musicians you may like.

Your photos—and your friends' photos—are displayed larger on the updated Photos feed. Facebook Director of Design Julie Zhuo says the new design "looks more like a table of contents" and includes a summary of the album at the top.

Facebook's algorithm caused a lot of headaches among news outlets and business owners by choosing which posts the brand's followers would see.

The new Following feed will display all posts from news pages, public figures and sports teams you've liked—all in chronological order. The Following feed will also aggregate the most-shared posts on Facebook from the pages you like.

When you make a new connection—or when your friends do—Facebook will display more information about them in the News Feed. In addition to the friend's name, you'll see their cover photo, profile picture and mutual friends. There will also be an "Add Friend" button to make a connecting easier.

Events are displayed with easy-to-consume information such as the date, location and which of your friends are attending. You'll also see public events based on the places you've checked into in the past, and you can join an event from your News Feed without having to visit the event's page.

When more than one friend shares the same news story, video or photo, Facebook will group together the activity and display on the left side thumbnails of your friends who have shared it. Hover over the image of a friend to see what they've said about it.

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg says Facebook's redesigned News Feed should feel like your own, personalized newspaper. So, for example, if you like Taylor Swift, expect to see news articles about her in your Following feed.